Chapter Text
"Well, that's an interesting thing. It also seems strangely familiar..."
Riley left the Met Factory attached to the tree as she bent down over the latest example of a 'magical' creature. While she accepted that magic was real, and that its physical signs were these 'galas muscles', the rest of the animals were... well... normal.
Sure, there were interesting mutations and strange abilities, but it wasn't too different from how life had evolved on Earth.
Survival of the fittest.
Or, to be more accurate, survival of the least worst.
Quite frankly, biology was a mess at several levels. Reproductive organs next to waste disposal. Not enough limbs to get along well if someone lost one. No redundant systems.
Humans were great... compared to everything else. They paled against what she was capable of doing.
Or, at least, what Bonesaw had done in the past. Riley didn't see people as un-used resources any more, and she understood that visual appeal was an important thing. Being 'artistic' or 'edgy' made her cringe over what she'd done in the past - both out of empathy, and shame about how she'd acted when she was younger.
This 'creler'...
It was like her old 'art'! It was the same over-engineered nonsense that Bonesaw would've made!
Sure, some of the choices made sense - from a purely utilitarian standpoint. More limbs were good. As long as the brain could coordinate all of them, it allowed for losing some without it being a huge issue. It also increased speed among other benefits.
The spikes? Okay. Spikes WERE useful... but they were also so... ugh! Even Bonesaw had gone for 'cute' more often than 'edgy'.
Finally, the creler had its internal organs hanging out from its belly! In fact, as Riley began to cut into it, it looked like it could invert itself. It could roll all of its dangerous parts into its center... and leave its organs on the outside?
What in the world?
That was so... stupid!
Nothing would survive long enough like that to evolve into something more dangerous. Nothing dangerous would evolve into having such a weakness!
This was EXACTLY what she'd have done as Bonesaw if she wanted to make a nightmarish monster that suddenly got...
Oh.
That was it, wasn't it?
This... thing... had been designed. It hadn't evolved this way. Someone, or something, had created it.
That also explained why only its internal organs were red - and they weren't even red down to the cellular level like other things in the Dyed Lands.
Riley straightened up and let her helmet flow up around her head.
Riley ► Fall back. Bring the dead Jungleclad, the creler, and its brain.
She needed to study it in more detail, and that meant bringing it back to life and putting its brain in a jar.
"Wait, really?" Pinky sounded incredulous as the green apes picked up the creler's corpse and brain and walked with them back to the outpost. "Crelers are a plague! They nearly destroyed the world! Every single living thing is their enemy!" The Fraerling scowled as it didn't look like she was dissuading Riley. "...Using them is a war crime!"
"Really?" A bio-weapon? "How interesting."
...
Riley cannibalized one of the re-dead Jungleclads to bring the creler back to life. Not back to functioning, but back enough for it to be in a vegetative state. The ape's brain wasn't really up to the task of controlling the monstrous pill bug, but she'd managed to jury-rig it so that it could at least handle the autonomous processes.
The brain? The brain took some insight from her Passenger to get it stabilized. Brains weren't normally dangerous, but Riley saw some very interesting sections that looked like modified galas muscles.
"Hmmmm...." She poked at it. "Hey Pinky, are crelers psychic?"
Her friend scowled. "Would that make them more dangerous? Then yes!" She tilted her head. "Huh? What? Fine..." She took in a deep breath before continuing. "They might be. They might not. Crelers have displayed intelligence and tactics in the past, but only as they get older and bugger. What? Oh. Older and BIGGER, not bugger. Hmmm? Ah, they also have anti-magic properties, which is one of the reasons they're so dangerous. The other one is that they lay eggs in hidden locations, since they're vulnerable as larvals. Oh, I mean 'larvae'." Pinky spoke like she was reading from a text-book, or quoting someone.
"So... they are psychic?"
"Uhm..." Pinky frowned. "Yes? Possibly. Intelligence reports that Tallfolk who'd killed crelers could hear other ones of them promising revenge in their minds. That is the only documented interaction that anyone has ever had with them apart from fighting. At least, that's according to... me."
"Right." Riley nodded. "No chances then." She pulled out a scalpel and paused. This was going to be hard without some proper assistants. "Still, I can do a fast and dirty lobotomy."
"Loboto-what?" Pinky had seemed to have forgotten her outrage and climbed back onto Riley's shoulder.
"A lobotomy." Riley explained. "Basically, I'm going to sever some key passageways in the brain. If the sections can't properly communicate, then someone can't properly think."
"Ohhh..."
It was more complicated than that. Brains were a wonder of evolution, and could adapt to some astounding things. Sections would reconfigure themselves and perform the duties of missing or damaged parts. That was, if the damage wasn't too severe.
But Riley could inflict severe damage without wasting any of the cerebral mass. It was something she was skilled at.
Dev had watched the action from the top of the wall.
Surprisingly, it didn't make him feel useless to stay away. He'd prefer to avoid fighting, and never considered it a bad thing to do so.
It was better to be like Picard than Kirk.
Still, he now had his spear, and could possibly defend himself. It wasn't much of a spear. More of a pointed stick than a real weapon of war. He'd tried tying a knife to the end to act as a spear head, but it always came off after a few practice thrusts. That, or the wood splintered. He didn't know enough about weapons to identify exactly what he was doing wrong.
Besides, a wooden tip would work just fine for delivering Bit's poison to any robot controlled zombies. That was the important thing. Despite his new class, Dev would still rather trap animals when he needed to hunt them instead of... what? Tracking them down and stabbing them with a stick?
Actually... it might come to that one day. He'd never done anything like that as the highest rank of the The Bharat Scouts and Guides: a Rover Scout. But... he might have to in this world one day. It was possible he would need to hunt for food if he couldn't catch any with his traps.
He had mixed feelings about that.
His attention was drawn back to Bit and her zombie apes as they started heading back to the village.
Was that it? Dev had expected... something. A pulse of energy. A dark cloud. Heck, even a sky beam wouldn't have surprised him. That's what happened to superheroes after all.
Sure, it hadn't been a completely sedate affair. There had been movement deeper into the jungle, and Bit had sprayed some kind of gas. He didn't know how she'd done it, she must've had a smoke grenade or something like that hidden in her dress. Goodness knows that she'd pulled countless odd things out of her backpack in the past.
It looked like the commotion had been caused by some huge, black bug. The dead Jungleclad were hauling it back to the village.
Huh.
He decided to wait for a while. He'd be most useful as a lookout, and Dev wanted to be useful.
Satisfied that the creler would keep until later, Riley walked back out to the jungle's edge with her Jungleclad escort.
"So you aren't going to burn it?" Pinky asked from her shoulder.
"I might." Riley answered truthfully before looking at her friend. "It's not like you to worry."
Pinky shrugged. "My parents told me stories about the creler wars. Faerlings usually stay out of that kind of stuff, but it was kill or be killed. So, they were the big, bad monster that we were afraid of. I got to see a set of Creler-Bane armor before." Pinky smiled at the memory. "I guess there isn't anything... wrong with keeping it as a trophy. In fact, I'd imagine that Tallfolk do that sort of thing. You know, making armor out of hide and shells and carapaces."
"Ah." Riley nodded. "I understand. So there's nothing to worry about as far as its corpse being toxic or other crelers coming after it."
Pinky tilted her head as if she was listening to something. "Nope. Not that I've heard."
"Good. I'm glad." Because she wasn't about to throw away such an intriguing resource. Childish and edgy as it was, there were bound to be good tricks she could learn from the creler's corpse. She'd have known that even if she didn't sense it from her Passenger. Surgery hadn't given her any plans yet, but she'd gotten half-formed ideas that didn't fully crystallize in her mind.
It was a new sensation.
"So, what's the plan then?" Pinky asked.
"I'm going to summon a new Met." Riley told her while scanning the jungle for movement.
"That..." Pinky giggled. "That sounds like the perfect thing to do! I'm glad I came!"
"Okay, here I go." Her apes were spread out in the jungle surrounding the village. There was no sign of any other Mets close by, nor any particularly dangerous animals. She'd probably lose one or two apes when the Met appeared, but she needed to confirm what the trees would do to a Met that wasn't attached to an animal. If they attacked and dissipated it, then everything should be fine. If they didn't... well, she'd cross that bridge if she came to it.
Riley held out the Met Factory and let her suit flow back over her head. A mental nudge activated the Tinkertech cube...
...And a Met appeared right next to her!
"Agh!" Pinky yelled and dropped down to cling to Riley's back and hide from the summoned creature.
Riley crouched down, she had the factory in her hand. The Met shouldn't be able to hurt her. It should be easy to touch it and...
"..."
"..."
"..."
There was silence. No sudden explosion of violence. The Met simply stared up at her with its pixelized eyes.
Riley straightened up and tilted her head.
Was it, not 'infected'? She sent it a party invitation.
Riley ► Report.
Met A ► No changes in status.
Hmmmm....
Riley ► Hop up and down.
Met A ► Affirmative.
The yellow and black robot began to hop on its stubby feet.
"Uhm..." Pinky peeked from over her shoulder. "What's going on?"
"I think..." Riley considered the summons. "It reset to factory standards?"
"Huh?"
"Hang on." She mentally sent a dispersal command... and the Met vanished. "Huh. I guess only the ones active at the time turned into murder robots."
"Well..." Pinky climbed back onto her shoulder and sat down. "That's a good thing, right?"
"It's not a bad one, that's for sure." It was possible that future Mets would be normal. Or that they could be murderous or behave in other unexpected ways. It was hard to tell when Shards were involved. "Still, this does mean that we have a solution for determining if there are any more rogue Mets out there."
"Summon more of them to go out and hunt their fellow brethren?" Pinky swooned. "Brother against brother. A species wide war in the middle of a Death Zone!"
"I had something... simpler in mind."
Riley called some of her Jungleclad minions back and then summoned a Met. The yellow robot appeared next to her - like they were supposed to do in the first place. It stayed still and let the apes grab it tightly.
She then did it again.
And again.
And again. And again. And again.
...
"Okay." Riley stood with her hands on her hips. "That's forty."
"Yeah, it's a lot of them. Is forty special in some way?" Pinky asked.
"It's the most the Factory is able to summon at one time." Or at least it had been in the past. There was always a chance that the limit had changed or that the rogue Mets didn't count towards it... but she doubted that. If they didn't, the Met Factory shouldn't have been able to disperse them in the first place. "I can't summon any more, so that means that all of the Mets in the jungle are gone. If there were any left, then that would reduce the most I could summon here."
"Oh!" Pinky slammed her fist into her palm. "That makes sense. So, what now?"
Riley shrugged and dispersed all the Mets with a thought. "I guess we... pack up and leave."
"Yeah, there's not much point in staying, is there?" Pinky let out a sigh. "I think Dev will be happy to get out of the Dyed Lands too. I don't know why anyone would willingly come here!"
"..." Riley didn't reply as they walked back to the walls.
Dev was waiting for them at the gate with a stick in his hands. "Well? What happened? I saw more robots appear, but no fighting." He craned his neck as he looked out into the jungle. "Are we safe?"
"We're safe." Riley paused before elaborating. "At least from the Mets. We're still in a hostile environment, but all in all, we're not really in any danger at the moment."
Dev shoulder's slumped. "That's good." He looked at her intently. "Then what was going on with the robots out there?"
Riley smiled at him as she walked inside. "I was just checking that all the Mets in the jungle are gone. It turns out that I can still summon some non-homicidal ones!"
Dev followed behind her. "But... you're not going to, right?"
"Hm?"
"I said, you're not going to summon more robots that might go insane and kill all of us, right?"
Riley sighed. "No. You don't have to worry about that." She supposed she couldn't blame him for being nervous. A part of her also worried about how reliable the Mets were. "I'm going to have to make some new minions to take with us then. I should be ready to leave in a few days."
"Uh..." Dev looked at all the Jungleclads that silently marched past them. "You need MORE minions?"
Riley solemnly nodded. "You can NEVER have too many minions." She then shrugged. "Besides, the Jungleclad don't count. They were an emergency stop-gap. It's not right to use sapient people for parts." She was, of course, still going to use them to bring her non-sapient brains in the mean-time, but after that was done, she'd give them a proper burial.
...Or at least, she'd have them give themselves a proper burial before deactivating them.
"That's good." Dev agreed. "I know that we were desperate, but since you've handled the robots, it's no longer life or death." He frowned. "I wouldn't want to have some more Jungleclad come by and see their zombified kin." He turned to walk away before letting out a small 'oh'. "Hey, Bit. Do you know anything about making spears?" Dev held up his stick. "None of the ones I've made are any good."
Riley tilted her head and thought. "Yeah, I can do that. Piece of cake!" She smiled at him before going back to her make-shift workshop.
...
"Okay, let's do this." Riley nodded to herself as she considered her situation. This was the sort of thing that Kevin would try to plan out by making a list. He'd been trying to get Sibby to stop being so impetuous, but some of it had rubbed off on Riley too.
So, what did she want and or need?
1. Leave the Dyed Lands so Pinky could introduce her to a Titan that might be able to help her find Kevin.
2. Experiment with magic and its effect on biology.
3. Acquire allies, minions, and resources.
She paused, mentally went over her list, and decided that it was a good start.
Oh, wait.
4. Make Dev a spear.
Right, she'd promised to do that. Not only would it be mean to break a promise, it would help Dev out. She was used to enhancing her allies, and honestly felt a little bad about only giving him some nice blood so far. She'd made things people could use in the past, like her living clothing.
Besides, it was only a spear. It was a pointy stick that you stabbed people with. That'd be easy.
Riley nodded to herself. "So I have my goals, what are my resources?"
1. The Jungleclad. She would allow them to rest in peace... eventually. Dead bodies were a useful resource, but it was rude to use them without permission. It could also cause friction with the Titan if she showed up with some of his dead allies. Pinky kept mentioning necromancy, so that was probably a thing in this world, and there would be laws and regulations that would be best avoided.
2. Her Mets. They seemed to be working again. She shouldn't keep them out for a long time as they clearly unnerved Dev - not that she could blame him. Using them to help her make better minions would help a lot.
3. The creler. It wouldn't be the first bio-weapon she'd studied, but it would be the only one that incorporated magic! Just from her initial examination, she could tell that it would be a treasure trove of parts. And she'd have to use it as parts because people would be upset at seeing one, even if it was her pet.
4. The jungle. There were plenty of animals out there that she could use. Should she get a big one? Or try to be less conspicuous?
5. Her existing minions that she could still use. She needed to fix her three monkeys up. She had two heads, but she could work with that. The Milk Box was fine. Badgy needed a head. Krabby was...
Riley blinked. How was Krabby doing? She'd been so busy with the Jungleclad and the Mets that she'd forgotten to check in on her aquatic pet. His lungs had been working just fine, but there was magic involved. Anything could happen!
...Including organ rejection.
Riley poked Krabby's body. He was dead. She'd have to open him up to see exactly what happened, but she was fairly certain that it was the result of mixing 'red' and 'white' flesh.
"Well, nothing to do about the past." Riley rolled up her sleeves. "Let's see if I can at least harvest his brain."
Dev liked his new spear.
It was long, sharp, light, flexible - and also seemingly indestructible. Bit had told him that it was 'also probably resistant to magic', but she'd just shrugged when he'd asked for specifics. Apparently, the large pill bug she'd killed the previous day had been a special kind of monster called a 'creler'.
Pinky had lectured him on the creler wars, and the world-wide apocalypse they'd caused.
That had been... odd. Normally her lectures were about, well, foolish things. He could never really tell if she thought he was stupid and was slowly explaining things to him like he was a particularly dim child... or if she really considered what she was telling him was super important and she wanted to cover all her bases.
Dev was usually torn between amusement and annoyance, but not when she spoke about crelers.
Apparently, the Fraerlings hid from the world. They had the equivalent of advanced technology - except it was all done with magic. She was evasive about any details, but the fact remained that the crelers had attacked everyone and everything. The Fraerlings had been no exception.
One of the reasons for why the monsters were so dangerous was that they were highly resistant to magic.
The spear that Dev had been given? Bit had used some 'red' to make the creler grow it out of its carapace. That seemed blatantly impossible, but no more so than other things he'd seen the little girl do. So... par for the course.
It was the same sense of... acceptance that he had for the creler's corpse. It clearly freaked Pinky out, but compared to all of the stuff he'd seen in this world?
Whatever.
It wasn't nearly as scary as the Vetala had been. Not to say crelers weren't scary, or that they weren't a huge threat. They kinda looked like aliens from that one movie series that Dev couldn't remember the name of. It was something generic sounding. As for being afraid of it? It was just that... well... he'd already had to fight for his life multiple times.
The specifics about the thing trying to kill him didn't matter as much.
That was to say, that he really liked his spear.
It was smooth and sharp in a way that human made weapons weren't. In fact, he was fairly certain that it wouldn't dull. At least, it hadn't after all his practice of stabbing and slashing logs.
It made him feel like a boy again - back when he'd found a cool looking stick and pretended it was a sword. At least, until the other boys had seen it, and taken it away from him.
...
Dev was cooking dinner when Bit slumped down in one of the wooden chairs. "Man, I'm beat." She yawned.
"I thought you were Bit!" Pinky said from the all-too-big chair that she was sitting in.
"I mean, I'm tired."
Dev placed a plate full of food on the table in front of her. "I guess surgery is hard work, huh?"
"Yeah, but it's fun." Bit smiled as she leaned down and smelled the food. "Did you find a new spice?"
Dev nodded. "It's a root. Kinda like a potato, but it has a lot more flavor." He placed a smaller dish on the seat next to Pinky. It wasn't a 'Fraerling' sized plate because she ate proportionately far more than someone her size should've been able to.
Pinky took a bite, chewed and swallowed. "It's a yellat." She nodded. "A red yellat, but it's a yellat all the same."
"A yellat?" Bit asked. "Are they something from outside the Dyed Lands?"
"Yellats are all over Baleros. Probably other continents too." Pinky continued to eat. "They're real hardy, so if anything could survive against the other plants in the Dyed Lands, it would be them."
"But they're red." Dev countered. "So they're part of the Dyed Lands now."
"That's true I supposed." Pinky tilted her head. "But yellats are usually red or orange - at least ripe ones. They're blue before that."
"Huh." Dev looked at the food. "Do you think I picked some unripe ones?"
"Who knows?" Pinky shrugged. "They taste fine to me, but I think that about everything in the jungle."
They continued to chat about the food for a while until the meal was over. Bit then stood up and looked at both Dev and Pinky. "I've finished my preparation. We can leave in the morning."
Dev nodded. "I've also packed everything I can. We're good on supplies."
...
Dev awoke before dawn and got ready to leave. He took one final look around the Jungleclad's village. He felt sad. It wasn't just the tragedy that had befallen the place, or the memories of the dead apes. In the few short days he'd lived in the ghost town... it had grown on him.
There were signs of life everywhere. He didn't know the Jungleclad or why they were living in such a dangerous place, but there were little things all over the outpost. Personalized homes or items. It made him feel... welcomed, even if there was no one living to actually do that.
And now, they were going to put it all behind them.
It was a shame, he thought. Living with the gorillas had made him comfortable in a way that he wasn't around humans - even if it had been for a short time.
"Okay!" Bit smiled at him as she walked up. She was escorted by a swarm of horrors.
Badgy was there, now with Krabby's head and claws. The chimeric monstrosity still walked on four legs - the crustacean's limbs sprouted from the side of its shoulders. Perhaps most disturbingly, the crab's eyes had been extended and enlarged. Instead of short, small eyes that protruded on inch long stalks, Badgy's new eyes rose up a good foot and were large and round.
They also looked at Dev and seemed to sparkle with emotion.
Creepy.
Three of the monkeys were hanging off of it. They were still all white, but their heads were misshapen. One had a smooth divot where its eyes should be. One was missing its mouth and jaw. The final one's head was narrower, and didn't have any ears.
"I only had two intact heads." Bit saw where he was looking. "I was able to make do."
Creepy.
Finally, and by far the worst, there were a small horde of black spiders crawling over both Badgy and Bit. They only had legs. No head. No features of any other kind. Just legs. The long, sharp claws reminded Dev of something...
He looked at his spear. She couldn't have...
"Yep!" Bit beamed at him. "Since crelers would panic people, I made a bunch of spiders instead!" She patted one on its... head? Carapace? Body? "The poor little things don't have much stamina, but they're more than capable of killing things many times their own size!"
Yeah. Things like him.
Creepy.
At least they weren't robots that would go insane and try to kill all humans. Or, rather, all non-humans. If the spiders did attack, they'd probably only do so one at a time. Besides, he'd never seen an animal break free of Bit's control.
Ah, right. That was because 'surgery' was her superpower. The robots she'd borrowed from her brother. Wasn't that a common superhero trope? That borrowed equipment never lasted? Like, a supervillain would steal Reed Richards' tech and do something evil, but it would always give out on him because he didn't understand it.
It was a way to maintain the status-quo, but he guessed it might actually work that way with real superheroes too.
"And the Jungleclad?" He asked.
Bit's smile vanished. "I made a grave around their tower and buried them there. I also made a memorial that depicts the events, so that if more ever come they'll know what happened." She looked over her shoulder. "I also left them something to help build their tower" - but Dev didn't hear that part.
"Ah." Dev should've thought about drawing a memorial. "That was nice of you."
Bit shyly smiled at him. "I try to be a... responsible girl. It's important to consider things from other people's viewpoints. Sometimes."
"Right." Speaking of that. "Where's Pinky?"
"I'm right here." The Fraerling said from his shoulder.
"Ah!" Dev spun and jumped, but Pinky managed to hold on.
...
The trio set off.
Without Krabby, they had to walk. It was still quicker to follow the river. Dev took the lead as they walked down the bank. Everyone else rode on Badgy.
The badger/crab hybrid was large enough for Bit, Pinky, the three monkeys, and all the spiders. Badgy looked like a large insect himself. The spiders wrapped themselves around him and made it look like he had a lumpy carapace. The illusion was further enforced by the two gigantic crab claws.
For some reason, Bit seemed inordinately pleased with his new black and white coloration.
The days passed quickly. Dev found it... peaceful.
There was still excitement. Animals attacked during both the day and the night. The trees were a constant threat. Foraging for enough food for all the animals took time too. Though, thankfully, the first problem helped out with the third.
For all of that, there were no vengeful spirits. No zombies. No homicidal robots. Dev was getting to explore. He even used his new spear and got levels in [Spear Fighter]. It reminded him of his first days in the Dyed Lands.
In fact, it was better.
Pinky chatted away, but was quiet when it mattered. Bit was still cute and creepy, but he was getting used to it. They had become a more familiar presence than an un-welcome one at some point.
Then, they reached the white plains.
In many ways, the Red Lands were more dangerous. The jungle itself would attack you, and it was nearly impossible to see the animals hidden among the plants. In the Chalk Lands, it was worse. Every plant and animal could turn invisible. The river was also dangerous as it was a more arid climate.
Animals came to it for water, and predators waited for them - both unseen.
Dev still led the group, but he started following the river from a distance. It made getting water more of an issue, but as long as the river was over the horizon, they could avoid most of the danger. Everything else Badgy handled.
By the time the white ground gave way to normal brown and green, Dev had come to a decision.
"I'm going to stay." He announced one night around their camp fire.
"What?" Pinky exclaimed. "That sounds like something I'd say, no offense."
"None taken." He nodded at her. "I'm sure the Titan is a great guy and all, but I don't want to be part of a 'Great Company' or even be close to that many people." He looked out over the plains as the sun set. "I want to be here, to see things like the plants gradually becoming visible as night falls."
Pinky and Bit were quiet as they stood next to him and shared the scene. As the sun set, the horizon became a mixture of red and yellow. Slowly across the plains, the plants turned visible. While they were white, the setting sun reflected off of them and made a field of gold and crimson that spread in a gentle wave.
"I think I get it." Pinky said.
"I'll come back and find you once my brother finds away for us to return home." Bit promised, but didn't object to his decision.
The next morning, Dev waved goodbye and set off to explore on his own.
Riley watched Dev leave.
She hoped he be okay long enough for her to find Kevin and then come back and find Dev. She turned to look at Pinky. "So which way towards this Titan fellow?"
"Hmmm..." Pinky tilted her head. "I think-"
"Took?!?" A voice came from the Fraerling's backpack. "Took is that you?"
"I think we should go, uhm, that way." Pinky pointed in a random direction.
"Pinky." Riley's eyes narrowed. "Why is your backpack speaking?"
"Oh, no rea-"
"Took Obligonita Narffion!!! You take out your speaking stone and you talk to me."
Pinky took off her backpack and sat on it. "Like I was saying, we should go-"
"Answer me when I call you!"
Pinky growled and pulled a small rock out of her bag. "This...doing...can't...later." She said with a halting voice and a smile.
"Took." The voice from the rock spoke with a flat tone. "I can see you through the scrying mirror."
"What?" Pinky ducked her head as if she could hide from an unseen observer. "I, er, I mean..."
"Do you know how worried I was about you, young lady? How dare you run away and not even leave a note!"
Pinky slumped her shoulders. "Sorry, mom."